Shoulder pads are assemblies of protective gear worn to protect the shoulders and portions of the torso from collisions sustained in sports play. Shoulder pads are generally composed of a pair of arches connected to each other in the front and in the back by connecting means such as straps, webs, or similar means. A pair of shoulder caps is flexibly connected to the arches by a flexible connecting structure such as webs, straps or bands, and configured to overlay and protect the shoulder. Shoulder pads for use in football conventionally have a separate attached epaulet flexibly attached to the apex of each arch by webs, straps, or bands. The epaulets partially overlie the top of the arch and the adjacent shoulder cap.
The arches, shoulder caps, and epaulets are conventionally formed of a moldable, durable, substantially rigid material such as a suitable plastic material such as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) or polycarbonate plastic. The arches and shoulder caps are in contact with the wearer's body (over the jersey or other basic clothing) and are provided with inner padding to absorb shock and increase comfort. The epaulets are not in contact with the body, but are in contact with the outer surface of the arches and shoulder caps.
For the aesthetic reason of muffling the clashing sound of the hard plastic epaulets contacting the hard plastic arches and shoulder caps, epaulets are sometimes provided with a cloth lining, a cloth bias strip around the edge of the epaulet where it would make contact, an elastomer coating, or a Styrofoam member. These additions to the epaulets are not effective to absorb shocks during sports play. Styrofoam additions suffer from the defect that they are not resilient and will be crushed at the first impact and will not rebound (although even when crushed they are still effective for the purpose of muffling sound).